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Conforama

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Conforama
Company typePublic
ISINNL0011375019
IndustryRetail
Founded12 December 1967; 56 years ago (1967-12-12) (in Saint-Priest, Rhône)
FounderPierre and Guy Sordoillet; Jean Moll and Jacques Ragageot
Headquarters
Lognes,
Seine-et-Marne
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Marc Ténart (Chairman)
Christophe Guégan (COO)
Products
  • Electronics
  • Home and furniture
  • Home improvement
  • Photo finishing
  • Craft supplies
  • Party supplies
RevenueIncrease US$2.570 billion (2017)[1]
OwnerSteinhoff International
French branches: BUT
Number of employees
13,500 worldwide (2018)
9,000 France (2018)
Websiteconforama.fr

Conforama is Europe's second-largest home furnishings retail chain with over 200 stores in France, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Italy, and Croatia.

History and ownership

In the early 1960s, Pierre and Guy Sordoillet, Jean Moll and Jacques Ragageot, supported by furniture dealers in the North and a Bordeaux manufacturer, Charles Minvielle, created a "Carrefour of furniture" by testing a discount formula in the outbuildings of an old farm in the suburbs of Lyon. In 1967, the first Conforama was opened in Saint-Priest, Rhône in a 2,500-square-metre industrial building.

In 1976, Conforama was acquired by Agache-Willot.

In 1981, the financial holding company experienced serious legal difficulties, and in 1991, Conforama was acquired by Pinault SA. Conforama set up its first commercial website in 1998.[2]

In March 2011, Conforama was sold by PPR to Steinhoff International, for a consideration of €1.2 billion.[3][4]

A Conforama store in Wallisellen, Switzerland in April 2012

In March 2016, Darty announced it had agreed to be purchased by Steinhoff for £673 million, through Conforama subsidiary.[5][6] Fnac returned with a higher offer, resulting in a bidding war between Fnac and Conforama during April 2016.[7] On 26 April, Conforama announced that it had dropped out in the battle for Darty.[8] The Fnac offer was declared unconditional on 19 July 2016, thereby allowing the takeover to be completed.[9] In September 2016, it was reported that Conforama and Casino had forged a supply purchase co-operation agreement.[10]

In April 2017, Conforama signed title sponsorship with France's Ligue 1. The deal, reportedly worth €10 million a season, started in the 2017–18 season and ended on 2019–20.[11] The next month, Conforama announced that it would take a 17% stake in the French number two in online clearance retail site Showroomprivé.fr in the amount of €157.4 million.[12] On 11 January 2018, this stake was urgently sold off on the orders of Steinhoff, which was suffering from its own accounting scandal. The proceeds of this sale to Carrefour amounted to €79m, a loss of 50%.[13]

Although the group had a net turnover of €3.4 billion euros in 2018, according to the parent company, they have accumulated losses of nearly €500 million ($564 million) since 2013. To that end, and to address the challenges in the retail sector, the company announced the departure of Frank Deshayes, General Manager France, on 9 July 2019.[14] A major restructuring plan for 2020 that was announced in July 2019, involved the closure of 32 stores – including the chain's flagship store in Pont Neuf – and the loss of 1,900 jobs.[15][16]

In late September 2019, Conforama named Marc Ténart as the new General Manager of the group.[17] Marc Ténart had formerly headed Kingfisher, the holding company of Castorama.[18][19]

In July 2020, Austrian furniture retailer XXXLutz Group acquired the 162 French branches of Conforama, through its French subsidiary BUT.[20]

References

  1. ^ "chiffre d'affaires et résultats". www.infogreffe.fr. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Toutes les actus des magasins Conforama sur le site lsa-conso.fr". lsa-conso.fr (in French). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  3. ^ "PPR finalise la cession de Conforama au sud africain Steinhoff". Stratégies. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  4. ^ Godart, Nina (26 March 2016). "Qui est Steinhoff, le discret propriétaire de Conforama?". BFM Business (in French). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Darty accepte le mariage avec Conforama et délaisse la Fnac". Le Figaro (in French). 18 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Steinhoff drops Home Retail bid; buys Darty". Financial Times. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  7. ^ Thomson, Adam; Massoudi, Arash (21 April 2016). "Fnac and Conforama trade rapid fire bids for France's Darty". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Fnac-Darty: Alexandre Nodale, PDG de Conforama, garde le sourire". Challenges (in French). Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Groupe Fnac Offer For Darty Declared Unconditional". Morning Star. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Retailers Casino and Conforama create French purchasing alliance". Reuters. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Conforama signs €10m title sponsorship with France's Ligue 1". InsideWorldFootball. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Conforama prend 17% du capital de Showroomprivé". Challenges.
  13. ^ "Showroomprive bondit en Bourse après l'entrée de Carrefour". 11 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Conforama : les syndicats de plus en plus inquiets après le départ du directeur général". lsa-conso.fr.
  15. ^ "Conforama confirme 42 fermetures et 1900 postes supprimés". lsa-conso.fr.
  16. ^ Torres, Anthony. "Furniture retailer Conforama announces 1,900 job cuts in France in 2020". World Socialist Web Site.
  17. ^ "L'ex-patron de Castorama nommé à la tête de Conforama". BFM Business (in French). Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  18. ^ "Conforama: Marc Ténart nommé PDG pour mener à bien la restructuration du groupe". FIGARO. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Marc Ténart, ex Kingfisher, devient pdg de Conforama". lsa-conso.fr (in French). Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  20. ^ "XXXLutz übernimmt französische Conforama". orf.at (in German). 8 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
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